2020–21 Qatar Stars League
# 2020–21 Qatar Stars League

The 2020–21 Qatari League, also known as Qatar Stars League or QNB Stars League for sponsorship reasons, was the 47th edition of top-level football championship in Qatar. Al-Duhail are the defending champions.

Al Sadd won the league title for a record 15th time, without suffering a defeat during the entire campaign.

## Teams

### Stadia and locations

| Club | City/Town | Stadium |
| - | - | - |
| Al-Ahli | Doha | Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Arabi | Doha | Grand Hamad Stadium |
| Al-Duhail | Doha | Abdullah bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Gharafa | Doha | Thani bin Jassim Stadium |
| Al-Khor | Al Khor | Al-Khor SC Stadium |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | Umm Salal | Al-Khor SC Stadium |
| Al-Rayyan | Al-Rayyan | Ahmed bin Ali Stadium |
| Al-Sadd | Doha | Jassim Bin Hamad Stadium |
| Al-Sailiya | Doha | Hamad bin Khalifa Stadium |
| Al-Wakrah | Al Wakrah | Al-Wakrah Stadium |
| Qatar SC | Doha | Hamad bin Suhaim Al Thani |
| Umm Salal | Doha | Suheim Bin Hamad Stadium |

### Personnel and kits

| Club | Coach | Captain | Kit manufacturer | Shirt sponsor |
| - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Ahli | Nebojsa Jovovic | Omid Ebrahimi | Puma | Regency Group Holding |
| Al-Arabi | Heimir Hallgrímsson | Ahmed Fatehi | Puma | N/A |
| Al-Duhail | Sabri Lamouchi | Almoez Ali | Puma | Al Rayan Bank |
| Al-Gharafa | Andrea Stramaccioni | Qasem Burhan | Puma | N/A |
| Al-Khor | Winfried Schäfer | Helal Mohammed | Adidas | N/A |
| Al-Kharaitiyat | Wissam Rizk | Pejman Montazeri | Joma | N/A |
| Al-Rayyan | Laurent Blanc | Yacine Brahimi | Nike | QIC |
| Al-Sadd | Xavi | Hassan Al-Haydos | Puma | Qatar Airways |
| Al-Sailiya | Sami Trabelsi | Majdi Siddiq | Umbro | UCC Holding Qatar Islamic Bank |
| Al-Wakrah | Tintín Márquez | Isaías | Umbro | N/A |
| Qatar SC | Younes Ali | Álex Gálvez | Puma | N/A |
| Umm Salal | Aziz Ben Askar | Anas Mubarak | Jako | N/A |

### Managerial changes

| Team | Outgoing manager | Manner of departure | Date of vacancy | Position in table | Incoming manager | Date of appointment |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Gharafa | Slaviša Jokanović | Signed by Sheffield United | 27 May 2021 | | Andrea Stramaccioni | July 2021 |

### Foreign players

* Players name in bold indicates the player is registered during the mid-season transfer window.
* Players in italics were out of squad or left club within the season, after pre-season transfer window, or in the mid-season transfer window, and at least had one appearance.

| Club | Player 1 | Player 2 | Player 3 | AFC Player | UAFA Player | Former Players |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Ahli | Omid Ebrahimi | Mohamed Diamé | Hernán Pérez | Shane Lowry | Nabil El Zhar | |
| Al-Arabi | Aron Gunnarsson | Marc Muniesa | Youssef Msakni | Mehrdad Mohammadi | Ayoub Azzi | Pierre-Michel Lasogga Mehdi Torabi Hamdi Harbaoui |
| Al-Duhail | Edmilson Junior | Dudu | Michael Olunga | Ali Karimi | Medhi Benatia | Ramin Rezaeian Youssef Msakni |
| Al-Gharafa | Sofiane Hanni | Jonathan Kodjia | Wilfried Kanon | Koo Ja-cheol | Adlène Guedioura | Héctor Moreno |
| Al Kharaitiyat | Evans Mensah | Oumar Sako | Rachid Tiberkanine | Pejman Montazeri | Mohammed Osman | |
| Al-Khor | Pierre-Michel Lasogga | Rafael Vaz | Giannis Fetfatzidis | Yuki Kobayashi | Ismail El Haddad | Lucca Alexander Michel Melki Ibrahim Amada Léo Gamalho |
| Al-Rayyan | Gabriel Mercado | Franck Kom | Yohan Boli | Shoja' Khalilzadeh | Yacine Brahimi | |
| Al-Sadd | Guilherme | Nam Tae-hee | Santi Cazorla | Jung Woo-young | Baghdad Bounedjah | |
| Al-Sailiya | Nadir Belhadj | Tiago Bezerra | Kara Mbodji | Ramin Rezaeian | Mohanad Ali | Ahmed Hammoudan |
| Al-Wakrah | Lucas Mendes | Ousmane Coulibaly | Abdennour Belhocini | Isaías Sánchez | Mohamed Benyettou | Cristian Ceballos Fahad Al Ansari |
| Qatar SC | Anthony Okpotu | Cristian Ceballos | Youcef Belaïli | Bashar Resan | Mehdi Berrahma | Kayke Álex Gálvez Ali Karimi Abdenasser El Khayati |
| Umm Salal | Kayke | Moses Orkuma | Aymen Abdennour | Rouzbeh Cheshmi | Ahmed Hammoudan | Ayoub Azzi Abdennour Belhocini Walid Mesloub Késsé Mangoua Yannick Sagbo Mahmoud Al-Mawas |

## League table

| Pos | Team | Pld | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Pts | Qualification or relegation |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Al-Sadd (C) | 22 | 19 | 3 | 0 | 77 | 14 | +63 | 60 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 2 | Al-Duhail | 22 | 15 | 2 | 5 | 53 | 25 | +28 | 47 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 3 | Al-Rayyan | 22 | 10 | 5 | 7 | 31 | 22 | +9 | 35 | Qualification for AFC Champions League group stage |
| 4 | Al-Gharafa | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 41 | 34 | +7 | 33 | Qualification for AFC Champions League play-off round |
| 5 | Al-Ahli | 22 | 10 | 3 | 9 | 28 | 38 | −10 | 33 | |
| 6 | Qatar SC | 22 | 9 | 5 | 8 | 30 | 24 | +6 | 32 | |
| 7 | Al-Arabi | 22 | 8 | 5 | 9 | 28 | 32 | −4 | 29 | |
| 8 | Al-Wakrah | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 19 | 29 | −10 | 26 | |
| 9 | Al-Sailiya | 22 | 7 | 5 | 10 | 22 | 36 | −14 | 26 | |
| 10 | Umm Salal | 22 | 5 | 6 | 11 | 13 | 31 | −18 | 21 | |
| 11 | Al-Khor (O) | 22 | 3 | 8 | 11 | 17 | 42 | −25 | 17 | Qualification for Relegation play-off |
| 12 | Al Kharaitiyat (R) | 22 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 17 | 49 | −32 | 12 | Relegation to Qatargas League |

## Results

| Home \ Away | AHL | ARA | DUH | GHA | WAK | KHA | KHO | RAY | SAD | SAI | QAT | UMM |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Ahli | — | 2–0 | 3–5 | 0–4 | 2–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 1–1 | 1–7 | 2–0 | 1–4 | 1–0 |
| Al-Arabi | 1–0 | — | 2–3 | 1–2 | 1–0 | 1–2 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 1–4 | 3–1 | 1–0 | 2–1 |
| Al-Duhail | 4–0 | 2–0 | — | 0–3 | 8–1 | 4–1 | 6–1 | 2–0 | 1–3 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Al-Gharafa | 1–3 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 1–0 | 2–0 | 6–3 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 0–1 | 2–0 | 1–1 |
| Al-Wakrah | 0–2 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 2–0 | — | 2–1 | 0–0 | 0–2 | 1–4 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 2–0 |
| Al Kharaitiyat | 1–2 | 1–3 | 0–2 | 1–2 | 0–2 | — | 2–1 | 0–3 | 1–5 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 3–0 |
| Al-Khor | 0–1 | 2–2 | 1–1 | 1–3 | 1–0 | 2–1 | — | 0–1 | 0–0 | 0–0 | 1–2 | 0–1 |
| Al-Rayyan | 3–1 | 2–0 | 1–2 | 2–1 | 1–0 | 2–0 | 1–1 | — | 0–1 | 0–2 | 2–1 | 1–1 |
| Al-Sadd | 3–0 | 3–2 | 3–1 | 4–1 | 1–1 | 5–0 | 7–0 | 2–1 | — | 8–0 | 3–0 | 3–1 |
| Al-Sailiya | 0–0 | 0–1 | 0–2 | 4–2 | 1–3 | 2–0 | 1–1 | 1–1 | 1–5 | — | 1–3 | 1–1 |
| Qatar SC | 1–1 | 3–0 | 1–1 | 2–2 | 1–0 | 3–1 | 3–0 | 1–0 | 1–1 | 1–2 | — | 0–1 |
| Umm Salal | 0–2 | 0–0 | 0–1 | 1–5 | 0–0 | 1–0 | 0–0 | 3–2 | 0–3 | 1–0 | 0–1 | — |

## Positions by round

* Leader : 2022 AFC Champions League Group stage
* 2021 AFC Champions League group stage
* 2022 AFC Champions League qualifying play-off
* Qualification to Relegation play-off
* Relegation to 2021–22 Qatargas League

| Team ╲ Round | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 |
| - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| Al-Sadd | 1 | 1 | 1 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 1 |
| Al-Duhail | 2 | 4 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 |
| Al-Rayyan | 8 | 3 | 6 | 4 | 6 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 6 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 |
| Al-Gharafa | 3 | 5 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 4 |
| Al-Ahli | 4 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 4 | 4 | 5 |
| Qatar SC | 10 | 12 | 8 | 10 | 12 | 8 | 7 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 5 | 6 |
| Al-Arabi | 5 | 9 | 11 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 11 | 9 | 9 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 6 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 7 |
| Al-Wakrah | 9 | 6 | 3 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 8 |
| Al-Sailiya | 7 | 11 | 7 | 8 | 7 | 6 | 8 | 7 | 7 | 7 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 8 | 7 | 9 |
| Umm Salal | 11 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 10 | 12 | 12 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 9 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 | 10 |
| Al-Khor | 6 | 8 | 10 | 9 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 12 | 10 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 | 11 |
| Al Kharaitiyat | 12 | 7 | 9 | 11 | 8 | 9 | 9 | 11 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 | 12 |

## Season statistics

### Top scorers

| Rank | Player | Club | Goals |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Baghdad Bounedjah | Al-Sadd | 21 |
| 2 | Dudu | Al-Duhail | 14 |
| 3 | Santi Cazorla | Al-Sadd | 13 |
| 3 | Youcef Belaïli | Qatar SC | 13 |
| 5 | Edmilson Junior | Al-Duhail | 12 |
| 6 | Yohan Boli | Al-Rayyan | 11 |
| 6 | Jonathan Kodjia | Al-Gharafa | 11 |
| 8 | Mehrdad Mohammadi | Al-Arabi | 10 |
| 8 | Rodrigo Tabata | Al-Sadd | 10 |
| 8 | Nabil El Zhar | Al-Ahli | 10 |

### Top assists

    As of 3 January 2021

| Rank | Player | Club | Assists |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Santi Cazorla | Al Sadd | 8 |
| 1 | Sofiane Hanni | Al-Gharafa | 8 |
| 3 | Dudu | Al-Duhail | 6 |
| 4 | Abdelkarim Hassan | Al Sadd | 5 |
| 4 | Akram Afif | Al Sadd | 5 |
| 4 | Ahmed Fatehi | Al-Arabi | 5 |
| 5 | Edmilson Junior | Al-Duhail | 4 |

### Clean sheets

    As of 29 December 2020

| Rank | Player | Club | Clean sheets |
| - | - | - | - |
| 1 | Ivanildo Rodrigues | Al-Ahli | 5 |
| 2 | Jassem Adel | Qatar SC | 4 |
| | Papa Djibril | Al-Khor | 4 |
| 4 | Baba Malick | Umm Salal | 3 |
| 4 | Fahad Younes | Al-Rayyan | 3 |
| 4 | Salah Zakaria | Al-Gharafa | 3 |
| 7 | Qasem Burhan | Al-Gharafa | 2 |
| 7 | Saoud Al Khater | Al-Wakrah | 2 |
| 7 | Amine Lecomte | Al-Sailiya | 2 |
| 7 | Meshaal Barsham | Al Sadd | 2 |
| 11 | Khalifa Ababacar | Al-Duhail | 1 |
| 11 | Mohammed Al-Bakri | Al-Duhail | 1 |
| 11 | Mahmud Abunada | Al-Arabi | 1 |
